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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

oh happy day and a giveaway!

TLS and I are starting to plan things to do while I am visiting him in September. A little over a month left to go. I love all things involving complex carbohydrates (I believe I lasted a whopping 27 minutes on the Atkins) and have been craving waffles with warm chocolate sauce for a few months now. TLS and I decided to do a date night in Bruges while I'm there. We will take a morning train from London to Belgium, check into a hotel, walk around Bruges, do a boat ride on the canals, get waffles, waffles, and more waffles (also some beer), do dinner (I'm thinking waffles or frites, possibly both), get some sleep, and spend another day walking around and enjoying the city before heading back to England.

Many of my readers know that I am absolutely head over heels obsessed with the Phantom of the Opera. TLS got us tickets for a date night in London to go see Phantom on the West End (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and go to the Ice Bar, which I've wanted to go to for a while, no matter how big of a tourist trap it is. (Y'all have to appreciate the irony of a girl who gets cold in anything below 73 degrees wanting to go to a bar that's made entirely out of ice.)

While I am there, we also have plans to go wine tasting at Vinopolis, go to Wagamama, go to the London Eye, shopping (obviously), the British Museum, and Tower, and Westminster Abbey. TLS's birthday is a few days after I leave, so we will be celebrating his birthday early (I already ordered his gift and will give it to him and take him out for something fun to do.)

And now here comes the giveaway:

I am looking for ideas of things to do for TLS's birthday, and we are both looking for places to go in England and Bruges. If you have been to either of those places, and have ideas of things that we absolutely must do, please leave a comment or email me at whaleflipflops {@} gmail {.} com. I will take all of the comments and will pick a winner when I get back from England (September 13th). If you win, you will receive two of my favorite things from England: a box of Fortnum and Mason Earl Grey tea (your choice of bags or loose tea), and a 5 pack of my beloved Curly Wurly bars.

I'm sorry to hear about your recent travel troubles! I agree that Harrod's is a lot of fun and I would also recommend the Cotswolds if want to see more of "old school" England. The Kensington Palace tour was great (where Princess Di had her apartment). There was an amazing exhibition of her dresses when I was there. I have never had bad Indian food in London either. Have a great time!!! : )

Yay for such a fun trip. September will be here before you know it! Have never been to London but I have always wanted to visit, take the train to Windsor and see the castle there. I guess that's cheating since it's not IN London. Ok - the teacher in me wants to see Oxford with it's stunning architecture.

In London, the National Gallery is a must, there is also a statue of George Washington outside the museum. The Tower is a must, be prepared to spend most of the day there. Also, there is a special presentation of the keys at the Tower, you have to get special tickets, I'm pretty sure they are free, but basically you get to go into the Tower at night and see the Beefeaters lock up the tower for the evening. It's an amazing experience!

For Bruge, I agree with a Canal tour. Also, they have several breweries in Bruge, go on a tour!

Brugge is one of my favorite cities in all of Europe!!! My family is dutch so I've been there several times. I did a solo European backpacking trip and stayed in the city for about 4 days one time. I really enjoyed the brewery tour at De Halve Maan (http://www.halvemaan.be/). I also recommend visiting one of the many chocolate shops (I like the Chocolate Line!) or even taking a tour of the chocolate factory off the main square. Also, don't forget to eat lots and lots of frites just outside of the bell tower. Definitely rent a bike and take a canal tour. And drink lots of Trappist beer (Rochefort is my FAVORITE)since it is so cheap over there. Don't be surprised if you find that beer menus in the restaurants are significantly longer than the food menus :)HAVE FUN!!!